COUNTER-TERRORISM -- PROSECUTORS PRESS CASE

C O N F I D E N T I A L JAKARTA 003109 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, S/CT, EAP/MLS NSC FOR EPHU E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/08/2017 TAGS: PGOV PTER KJUS ID SUBJECT: COUNTER-TERRORISM -- PROSECUTORS PRESS CASE AGAINST ALLEGED JI BOMBERS REF: A. SURABAYA 152 ¶B. JAKARTA 826 Classified By: Pol/C Joseph Legend Novak, reasons 1.4 (b,d). ¶1. (U) This message was coordinated with Consulate Surabaya. ¶2. (C) SUMMARY: Prosecutors have requested 20-year sentences for two alleged terrorists for a string of 2004-05 attacks in the Poso region of Sulawesi. Both men are being tried in Jakarta under the 2003 anti-terrorism law. Proceedings for several other suspects tied to violence in the region are expected to begin soon. The sentence requests are generally in line with those demanded of other militants involved in Poso-related violence. END SUMMARY. ¶3. (SBU) PROSECUTORS MAKE THEIR CASE: Indonesian government prosecutors have requested 20-year sentences for two alleged terrorists for a string of 2004-05 attacks in the Poso region of Central Sulawesi Province. Both men are being tried in Jakarta under the 2003 anti-terrorism law. Police have connected both men to the Jemmah Islamiya (JI) terrorist organization. ¶4. (C) POSO'S LEGACY OF VIOLENCE: Police in 2006 had listed the two, Mohammad Basri and Syaiful Anam, a.k.a., "Brekele," along with 27 others, as suspects in the terrorist violence that plagued the Poso region in the 2004-06 timeframe. Police raids in January 2007 basically seem to have rolled up the group (ref a). ¶5. (C) Basri is being tried for his role in a string of deadly attacks, including the beheading of three Christian schoolgirls in 2005 and the murder of a Christian pastor in ¶2004. He has already confessed to the crimes, stating that his motive was revenge for the "Walisongo" incident, which involved the murder of approximately 100 Muslims by Christian militants in 2000. ¶6. (C) Brekele was arrested in Temanggung, Central Java, in March 2007 for his role in the Tentena bombing, Indonesia's second most-deadly terrorist attack after the October 2002 Bali bombings. The bombing--which occurred in a majority Christian town on the fifth-year anniversary of the Walisongo attack--left 22 dead. ¶7. (C) PROGRESS AGAINST POSO MILITANTS: The sentence requests are generally in line with those demanded of other militants involved in Poso-related violence. Jakarta courts earlier this year, for example, sentenced JI-linked operative Hasanuddin (one name only),who admitted to planning the schoolgirl beheadings, and accomplices to 20, 14 and 14 year sentences respectively (ref b). The key exception to this trend in sentence requests was the death sentences carried out last year on three Christians for Poso-related violence. Proceedings for several other suspects tied to violence in the region are expected to begin soon. HUME